ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is on how the kinds of relationships discussed in Chapter 3 and the changes therein in relation to changing geopolitical circumstances are operationalized through ENGOs and CBOs. These relationships are understood from the vantage point of the intersection between capitalism and conservation which in turn accounts for the growing trend in corporate involvement in nature (Smith, 2007)- As we intimated in Chapter 1, the connection between conservation and capital interest has a long pedigree. Renewed scholarly interest in these connections can be ascribed to the intensity of capitalist penetration into nature; an increase in the diversity of forms of capitalist conservation; the mushrooming of sponsored ENGOs; and the belief in market-driven solutions to environmental problems (Brockington and Duffy, 2010). The ways in which capitalism penetrates nature conservation are understood in the context of neo-liberalism. On account of this, and in relation to the need to understand the permutations of global capitalism, a call has been made to reassess case studies from which general trends as well as specific manifestations of capitalism in nature may be comprehended (Castree, 2008a). To this end, Bakker (2005) provides us with concepts that could aid our understanding of neo-liberalized nature: privatization, commercialization and commodification. Given this knowledge of capitalism in nature, how do we explain environmental philanthropy? One way of answering this question is by drawing the links among capitalists, philanthropists and ENGOs and to understand how these links create new capitalist paths or reinforce existing ones.
